We uh rely a lot on hiring going to say interns, you know, to begin with and students coming out of college to teach them a new trade, you know, and um and I find it very fulfilling, going to say uh mission because it all, you know, it it puts them in touch with a profession that is not yet fully formed, but it teaches them the trade that is um and skills that are rare in the industry, which makes them uniquely valuable.
And what I found valuable is that we really teach them not only how to behave in a business, how to become a a professional, but also how you become an expert and teach them um how to engage with big shots in big companies. They have yet to learn about those best practices and give them the confidence that um with the right knowledge with the right can I say business acumen with the right behavior they can engage effectively with these big companies and you see these people flourish.
You know, I had a I remember in a in a previous company I I just met in San Francisco a few weeks ago. One of my former we call them sales development reps. These are people that start in a company that's the very first thing you do in sales. You do prospecting basically, but you process in an ethical way looking for needs that are met and and then see if you can be a solution provider to meet those needs.
And I met this guy and told me, Nick, how are you? And he's like, what are what are you up to? And he told me, I'm a venture capitalist now. So it's like wow in 15 years you went from SDR you know very uh you know beginning of a career in sales and marketing to and they say yeah I didn't become because of all the things you taught me and how to behave with people and how to be professional in our trade and a great performer um I became a sales manager.
I became head of sales in some companies and was quite successful and now reinvesting some my money in companies to give other people a chance in business. And so uh it was amaz for me that was super fulfilling. So he was grateful the chance we gave to him. Um and I was uh amazed you know it was very fulfilling to see him develop in that way and seeing this story repeated many time over is super fulfilling and uh it's almost like a feeling like professional fatherhood you know and you're giving people everything you know uh develop help them develop and uh doesn't mean it's always going to say um easy because uh some of them people you know come out of college and um they may not realize what the real work ethic looks like.
You know, there may be some people that come with a sense of entitlement. You know, maybe people that um think that uh things will be handed to them and then realize, hey, you want to defy gravity in an industry is about innovation, you got to study and you have to learn things that other people don't know and and be patient and diligent in doing that, you know, and and apply yourself to it because define gravity takes energy, you know, and uh and so it will it will not be handed to you.
